The present invention relates to an integrated circuit for a vehicle, in which a conductive layer is formed on a conductive substrate through an insulating layer so as to fix circuit elements.
As a conventional integrated circuit (IC) in which a conductive foil is adhered to a conductive substrate through an insulating layer to fix circuit elements, a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 46-13234 is known. A method of manufacturing an IC disclosed in this prior art comprises the steps of: anodic-oxidizing at least one major surface of an aluminum substrate to form an aluminum oxide thin layer on the surface of the substrate; selectively depositing a resistive material layer and a conductive material layer on the aluminum oxide thin layer to form a plurality of circuit elements; fixing a transistor pellet onto a lead portion formed by selectively depositing the conductive material layer; and sealing at least all the circuit elements with an insulating resin.
In an IC formed in this manner, heat generated by a resistor, a transistor, or the like can be quickly and effectively dissipated, so that an output circuit, or the like can be formed as an IC.
The IC formed in this manner may be adopted for use in a vehicle in view of a compact structure and low cost. However, when such an IC is actually used in a vehicle, it must be reliably connected to other control portions of a vehicle while effectively utilizing its compact and low-cost advantages. If an existing connecting device is used, it is relatively large and is expensive. Thus, even if the IC itself is made compact and reduced in cost, its merit cannot be satisfactorily utilized.
Even if a connecting device is rendered compact, if it has a poor assembly property, it is often impossible to assemble the connecting device in practice. Therefore, the assembly property must be sufficiently taken into consideration.